Arsenal hero Martin Keown doesn’t feel like did anything wrong when celebrating Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty miss at Old Trafford in 2003.
Dubbed ‘The Battle of Old Trafford’, Manchester United and Arsenal played out a controversial and ill-tempered match in September 2003, which resulted in Patrick Vieira receiving a red card and Ruud van Nistelrooy missing a late penalty.
Though they weren’t to know it, that penalty miss saved Arsenal’s unbeaten record in the 2003/04 season, the same campaign they managed to win the Premier League while undefeated. Martin Keown reacted strongly to the miss, jumping in front of the Dutchman and bringing his arms down into him while doing so.
Arsenal hero Martin Keown has no “regrets” about Ruud van Nistelrooy incident
“That image is on the back of my book, and below it are the words ‘no regrets’,” Keown tells FourFourTwo. “You can only make decisions on what is in front of you at that time, and at that time we felt really hard done by.
“Going to Old Trafford was tough: you had to work hard to get things and, yes, there were times when we felt decisions went against us. Patrick Vieira was sent off in that game, and there was a lot of history between the teams.
“Come 2003, and that game at Old Trafford when Ruud van Nistelrooy missed his late penalty, my emotions were laid bare. We felt that United were running football and you were lucky to get a free-kick there, let alone a penalty. When Ruud missed the penalty, I showed how I felt. You can say it’s not sporting, but I didn’t hit anyone – I jumped in front of someone and cheered.”
Keown adds that he doesn’t regret how he reacted, despite Van Nistelrooy also receiving a push from Lauren and confrontation from Kolo Toure, Ashley Cole and Ray Parlour, too.
“Some United fans have compared it to the Eric Cantona incident at Crystal Palace. Come on, it’s nothing like that,” Keown says. “I have no regrets about it.”
Arsenal went on to finish the season 15 points ahead of Manchester United, who came 3rd and behind Chelsea.